A key factor in oscillator design is the ease with which oscillation may be initiated. Some oscillators have serious reliability problems in this regard because certain of their characteristics change as a function of drive level. For example, in oscillators, such as quartz based oscillators, the effective resistance of the resonators used in those oscillators is much higher at low power levels than at high power levels. These drive level sensitive resonators are often subjected to the lowest power level during the turn on period of the oscillator when power is first applied. Oscillators with a drive level sensitive resonator, therefore, may not start when power is applied because the oscillator circuit cannot overcome a large resonator resistance seen at the low power level experienced at start up. This effect is not even stable with time. For example, an oscillator with a drive level sensitive resonator may start initially, but may fail to start at some future time. Start up problems such as these have been a long standing and pervasive problem in the oscillator industry and a great deal of effort has been focused on eliminating the problems associated with drive level sensitive resonators. To date, there are no known techniques to satisfactorily eliminate all root causes or problems associated with drive level sensitive resonators in oscillation circuitry.